INEC begins review of 2019 elections, condemns ‘do-or-die’ attitude of politicans

May 28, 2019 7:06 pm

Pic 15. From left: National Commissioners of INEC, Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu; Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu; and Chairman of INEC, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, during their Budget Defence before the House of Representatives Committee on INEC at the National Assembly in Abuja on Monday (29/1/18). 00525/9/1/2018/Hogan Bassey/ICE/NAN

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has started the review of the processes and procedures of the 2019 general election.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, said the review which commenced on Tuesday, with the meeting of state resident electoral commissioners, is targeted at improving Nigeria’s electoral system.

He said the commission will over the next two months, engage with all stakeholders at various levels in the electoral process while a national conversation will hold afterwards.

He said top on the agenda of the dialogue is the personal conduct of especially the political actors as well as funding for conduct of elections.

“The do-or-die attitude of some politicians and the inability to penalise electoral offenders incentivise bad behaviour,” he said.

“Elections are becoming increasingly expensive with increased number of voters, personnel and materials requiring huge logistics and deployment of new technology. We need a deep conversation around the cost of elections.”

Yakubu said among other issues to be discussed are voter registration and collection of permanent voter cards, number of political parties, recruitment of electoral staff, process of the conduct of the elections as well as handling of sensitive materials.

“The commission hopes that the recommendations arising from the national conversation will feed into an enduring reform of our electoral process,” he said.

The INEC chairman added that the commission would take into consideration, the reports of previous committees on electoral reform, judgements of election petition tribunals, submissions of election observers among others.

“Many observers have already submitted their interim and final reports on the elections. Many civil society organisations appraised various aspects of the exercise,” he said.

“The judiciary in Nigeria is also adjudicating many petitions challenging the conduct of primary elections by political parties as well as the outcome of the general election.

“We shall dutifully study these reports and take into consideration the actionable recommendations in planning for future elections.”